4.9 miles/8K of park land. The course is a three lap course around the Showground side of Fairlands Valley Park.
Surface: Grass. Trail shoes recommended.
Facilities: Temporary toilets will be available near the start.
Kit: Unsupervised area to leave belongings around the start and finish.
Travel: Parking is available within the showground carpark – Broadhall Way, Stevenage, SG2 8RH. This is directly opposite Stevenage Football Club and the Lamex Stadium. This is 1.1 miles from the train station. If you do intend to drive, please car-share as much as possible as there are not sufficient spaces for every runner to park a car.
Many thanks to all of our helpers and marshals who have been working hard to put this event on and GOOD LUCK to all of the runners, we hope you enjoy the course and have a great race!
Fairlands Valley Spartans came home with GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE from the Hertfordshire County Five Mile Championships for veterans which were incorporated in the Hatfield Five on Sunday morning.
GEORGIE HOOPER (35:32 – a personal best PB by 11 minutes 39 seconds!); MARIE COLUCCI (37:18 – a season’s best SB by 3:01) and YUKO GORDON (37:42) won BRONZE in the women’s team competition.
Yuko took individual SILVER in the championship for women aged 65 plus.
The GOLD medal went to JIM BROWN who won the county championship for men aged 70 plus with exactly two minutes to spare in a year’s best (YB) time of 42 minutes 39 seconds.
Good fast five-mile races are pretty rare, and 22 Spartans took the opportunity. There were some outstanding performances in the open race as well as the county event. Every single Spartan that ran achieved a milestone. NICK GILL was fastest from Fairlands, 53rd out of the 655 finishers in 30 minutes 50 seconds – an outstanding personal best by 16 minutes 21 seconds.
SAM SIMMONS improved his PB by 4:13 to 33:40. PETE SMITH took 3:05 off his SB to 35:12. SUSAN McANENY reduced her PB by five seconds to 39:27 and NICK KLEANTHOUS by 58 seconds to 42:19. NICOLA ANDERSSON sliced 1:17 off her life-time best with 43:38 and PENNY SCHENKEL improved her SB by 1:42 to 45:14.
MATT TUTTON took 37 seconds off his PB with 46:46 and JANE WADEY ran the PB bell with her new personal best of 52 minutes 26 seconds. An improvement of 1:48.
SHARON CROWLEY took her season’s best down by 52 seconds to 55:03 and BRIAN WHITE, JONATHAN JONES and DZENANA TOPIC ran their best five-mile times this year with 36:51; 56:55 and 57:40.
Three Spartans were running their first ever five-mile races – MIKE JEFFS in 35:32; MARCUS RIDLEY in 37:34 and HARRIET SMITH 38:59.
MARK GOODWIN equalled his five-mile time with 37:34 and DANNY SCANLON was in the top 100 with a year’s best time of 32:49.
Bests At Bass Belle Ten
Another ten Spartans were at the Bass Belle Ten, a partly off-road event based in Bassingbourn.
STEVEN DOBNER said “Rain greeted us but luckily had passed through before the start. After setting an unofficial PB in last week’s half marathon in Gosport I had a time to aim at and felt comfortable throughout. Starting quickly to find some space and to try to get the best of the tricky 1.5miles muddy and slippery off-road section in road shoes, we settled into our rhythm ticking off the kilometers and judging the effort. The little hill proved less of an obstacle this year and I was very happy to come home in a time of 1:15:05, knocking 5 minutes 31 off my previous best 10-mile race.”
DAVE PATTMAN also came home with a new personal best of 1:15:41 shaving 2 minutes off his PB. MO WARRILOW said she enjoyed the run, finished with a smile on her face and beat 90 minutes by 22 seconds.”
PAUL and ALISON SHELLEY ran Bass Belle again and said as always it was well organised and well supported. The 1:5 mile off road section was a bit tricky but otherwise a nice route. It was great to see so many Spartans.
Paul was 27th 1:11:35 – 27th overall. Alison finished in 1:27:41.
The other Spartans were MATT CLARKE 1:25:11; MICHAEL O’KEEFE 1:35:00 in his first ten-mile race; FIONA CLARKE 1:37:39; CHLOE CHAPMAN 1:37:53 and MONICA SMITHSON 1:51:24.
Serpentine
Runners were so lucky with the conditions again for the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5K in Hyde Park, London. It was sunny, mild and with a light breeze for the lunch-time event. JIM BROWN ran his best 5K of the year with 26 minutes 8 seconds and second in his age category.
Canicross
TRACY PEZ (and her dog) enjoyed a Canicross event at Grafham Water which they completed in 1 hour 21 minutes 7 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights 26th November 2022 – Penny in the Cape
Numbers were back over 300 for the 266th Stevenage with 314 completing the 5K Saturday morning run in Fairlands Valley Park. 24 were Spartans.
In Stevenage PENNY SCHENKEL ran her 50th parkrun in the red celebration cape with a time of 30 minutes 49 seconds. MATTHEW NEWTON ran new PB of 20:14. ADRIAN BUSOLINI was 3rd overall in 18:15 and GRANT RAMSAY 4th in 18:58.
Elsewhere DARRYL STEVENS continues his tour of many different parkruns. He was a first timer at Eastville, Bristol and finished in 39:30. MATT and FIONA CLARKE were first timers at Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire with 31:07 and 31:11.
JULIET FULLWOOD was a first timer at Alexandra, Moss Side in Manchester on her first parkrun. She was fourth women in 21:59.
It was seriously hot, an estimated 30 degrees at the finish line, for the St. Albans Summer 10K but Danny SCANLON ran it in a quick 42 minutes 57 seconds for 39th place overall. At Saturday’s parkrun Jim BROWN was nervous about the heat but come Sunday he won his age category by more than thirteen minutes with 56:38. Michael O’KEEFE was close to his personal best with 58:22.
Parkrun Highlights Saturday 13th August
The summer holiday period saw thirty two Fairlands Valley Spartan members travelled to 10 different parkrun venues across the country.
Simon JACKSON took first place at Stevenage and was the fastest Spartan this week finishing in 17:13. Jonathan PARR took first place at Hunstanton promenade finishing at 17:59 and Susan MCANENY was the fastest female Spartan with a time of 26:46, 8th female at Stevenage.
Other top ten finishers are Adrian DONNELLY at Malahide (6th, 19:20), John HARRIS at Letchworth (5th, 20:40), Claire PULLEN at Stevenage (9th female, 26:46).
Cathy CRAIG travelled to Blandford park run and achieved a new seasons best in 25C heat of 30:40.
Six Spartans raced in the Lee Valley regional park near Waltham Cross on Sunday. Starting and finishing by the White Water Rafting Centre in the half marathon DANNY SCANLON was 20th out of the 227 finishers in 1 hour 30 minutes 34 seconds. SAM SIMMONS was 52nd in 1:41:22.
JIM BROWN “got the miles in” with 2:04:07 and PAUL JENNINGS came in with 2:19:50.
In the 10K Spartan THOMAS SAUKA ran a sub fifty with 48 minutes 38 seconds and NICK KLEANTHOUS got within seconds of a new personal best with 53:36.
Nick said, “The course was quite hilly and uneven in places. However the event was very well organised and I was only 11 seconds away from a personal best. I’m happy with that.”
There were 227 finishers in the half marathon and 129 in the 10K.
Burnham Beeches Half Marathon
Spartans WENDY and TAHER THARANI were at the scenic Burnham Beeches Half Marathon. Wendy finished in 2 hours 1 minute 49 seconds and Taher in 2:38:18. There were 453 finishers.
Abbathon – Thank You For The Music
JENNY GARRETT and HAZEL SMITH had a fantastic time singing their way around the Abbathon trail marathon in Cambridge. Undulating with difficult terrain, they both finished with a respectable time of 5 hours 14 minutes 1 second, including completing one 5.3 kilometre lap in full Abba costumes.
The event was run by Zigzag, they were fantastic organisers. Jenny came away with a special Happy Birthday badge after being sung to by all competitors whilst Hazel won the lucky race number with free entry to a future event – winner takes it all!!!
Letchworth 5K
JOHN HARRIS ran the North Hertfordshire first Saturday of the month 5K in 21 minutes 16 seconds on 7th August. He was seventh out of 52 runners. The event is run monthly by NHRR with the next event taking place on 4th September.
10K Times
Many Spartans spent the week recording 10K times for the fourth and final round of this year’s Mid Week League. So far there are 57. The full results and league standings in a few days but it’s looking pretty certain that Fairlands Valley Spartans are comfortably in second place in Division One. Second place in the top division – pretty good going.
24 Spartans have run all four midweek 10K races.
Parkrun Highlights 14th August 2021 – fourth week back
This week there were 19 Spartans out of the 290 finishers at the Stevenage Parkrun.
Staying close to home with the rest of the country, twenty-nine Fairlands Valley Spartans ran at seven UK Parkrun Events this week.
Impressively parkrun PBs were recorded for four runners from the group. The Stevenage course saw SAM SIMMONS record a time of 22 minutes and 3 seconds, STEVE ELDER run in 26 minutes and 58 seconds and STEPHANIE GAJIC in 35 minutes and 37 seconds, on her second ever parkrun. In addition, SALLY PHILLIPS conquered the Wimpole Estate event in 36 minutes and 37 seconds.
In other achievements STEVE WELLS (19:48) was 9th overall in Stevenage and recorded an impressive age related score over 80%. GAIL MACKIE (25:42) and KAREN ELLIS (25:49) finished as the 11th and 12th females, respectively. EVA RAMSEY (23:11) was the first female to finish the Aldenham course and JONATHAN PARR (16:54) finished fourth at the Norwich event.
(All the times for all 29 Spartan parkrunners can be found near the end of this release).
Flying On Number 65
Just one Spartan ran in last week’s Fly 5K. JIM BROWN finished in 28:57 and was second his age category. He was 95th out of the 159 finishers (83 women and 76 men) and this was his 46th virtual Fly 5K.
Battle for Bronze in the Virtual Coast Challenge
With less than 100 of the 2,970 kilometres to go SHARON CROWLEY has edged ahead of BRIAN WHITE and is now in bronze medal position amongst the Spartans in the club’s virtual race around the coasts and borders of England. On Wednesday Sharon was on 2,850.7 kilometres and Brian on 2845.6 – “only a parkrun” apart, by Saturday Sharon opened the gap a little more by reaching 2885.4 when Brian was on 2859.7. However, on Sunday the battle for bronze tightened up again with Sharon on 2890.9 and Brian on 2888.2 only 2.7 kilometres behind.
PENNY SCHENKEL and JIM BROWN have completed and were seventh and tenth nationally.
The other Spartans through the 2,000 kilometre mark by Sunday were JON SYPULA 2,291.2; KEN JUDE 2,255.6; CATHY CRAIG 2,160.8 and HAZEL SMITH 2,154.3.
Tables
Spartans in parkruns. Full results for 14th August are below:
It’s never an easy place to go to (acknowledgements to Harry Redknapp for the quote).
You will have seen emails over the past few weeks about the Cross Country League Fixtures. These races are primarily team events with 8 men required to make a team, and 4 ladies.
Unfortunately, we have struggled recently to get a good number of Spartans to participate, so this is a direct appeal to give it a try at Royston – you never know you might like it! Put the 19th February 2012 in your diary now!
Good Things About Running Cross-Country Races
It is very, very good for you – building up strength, stamina and overall fitness
If you want it to be competitive, you can race as hard as you like. BUT it is also perfectly acceptable to treat it as a slow, sociable training run – lots of people are there just to jog round and there is absolutely no pressure!
There is a real spirit about running team events like this – you are doing it for yourself, but also for your team-mates and for the Club
You can wear lots and lots of warm clothing to keep out the effects of the weather – people run in hats, scarves, gloves, leggings, tracksuit bottoms, ear muffs – the lot! The only mandatory thing is that you wear a club vest on top of everything else!
You see some really good scenery – the Royston event is run across the Heath and it really makes a pleasant change from the cycle ways of Stevenage!
When you have finished, you will have a warm glow of satisfaction for the rest of the day!
So, if you think you might want to give it a try, then let us know by either replying to this email and I will add you to the list or add your name to the thread on the forum at http://forum.fvspartans.org.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1307118016). If you are unsure about anything, no matter how silly you feel your question might be, just ask any of the coaching team and they will be happy to help.
Full details on the Royston event below. The good thing about Royston is that it is not far too travel and it is never very wet or muddy (unlike some cross-country courses!). Yes, it is pretty hilly but if you want to walk up the hills – that’s absolutely fine. You definitely will not be the only one to do that!
Royston Details
The fourth Sunday League race for this season in on Sunday 19th February 2012.
The event will be hosted by Royston Runners and will be held on Therfield Heath, Royston.
The Race HQ will be The Heath Sport Centre, Baldock Road, Royston, SG8 5BG. The Centre has ample changing and showering facilities. It also has a licensed bar that serves food.
The race starts at 10.30am. The course is mostly across open downland and is hilly. It is suitable for spikes, studs or trail shoes.
Travel: Car there is plenty of car parking on the Heath. I suggest meeting at Sainsburys Coreys Mill to leave at 9:00 if you want to car share.